that includes when we have discussions about deficit reduction. as the president has made clear , deficit reduction is not the goal in itself. it is the means, if done right, greater growth and greater job creation. as part of an overall economic policy. i would note that today's jobs figures and the revisions we saw in previous months mean that over 35 months, we have created 6.1 private sector jobs. we created in 2012, when i said 2 million, we created 6.2 million with the revision numbers. in 2012, that means we have been moving in the right direction when it comes to job creation. when this president took office in 2009, we were in an economic free fall. we are hemorrhaging jobs. -- we were hemorrhaging jobs. we still had work to do and we had to make sure that when we divide economic policy and we negotiate with congress how to move forward, we cannot neglect the essential responsibility to ensure that the policies we put in place promote job creation and economic growth. that is why in every proposal, every budget , every submission to a com